Genetic diversity of bread wheat landraces collected by scientific expeditions in Afghanistan

Abstract

N.I. Vavilov considered the territory of Afghanistan, the site of one of the first centers of farming, to be Central Asia’s hub of crop origin and diversity. This center also includes the hexaploid 42-chromosomal wheat with the AABBDD genomic formula. The agricultural regions of Afghanistan were surveyed repeatedly by scientific expeditions from various countries in order to collect wild and cultivated plants. The collected material was placed for storage in diverse genetic banks of seeds. The present article considers the distribution of Afghanistan landraces of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) collection and the Australian collection (AWCC) depending on elevation above sea level and climate conditions (aridity/humidity). Data on the sources of valuable breeding characters identified among Afghanistan bread wheat are presented. In order to analyze the structure of its genetic diversity, a set sample consisting of 116 genotypes has been analyzed using 13 microsatellite loci.